1. Introduction Cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine has a long tradi- tion of development. Today, ecotourism, active forms of tourism, ethnographic trips and trips to historical and cultural destinations are mostly developed. The most popular offers come from national parks and other natural areas with preserved natural, historical and cultural environments. Among the regions with active forms of tourism, the Carpathian mountain re- gion and the Crimea with a well-developed network of hiking and biking trails should be noted. Rafting on the Black Cheremosh, Prut, Southern Bug, Dni- ester, Desna, Sluch, Teteriv and other rivers is quite popular as well as trips to caves (in Podillia, the Car- pathians and the Crimea), which are often combined with visits to other natural attractions. Travel agen- cies, specialized clubs, national parks and nature re- serves, which cooperate to promote their offers on domestic and international tourist market, organize informative trips. Journal of Geography, Politics and Society 2016, 6(4), 27–33 DOI 10.4467/24512249JG.16.024.5811 EcotourISm and GEotourISm In ukraInE Marta Malska (1), Yurii Zinko (2), Nataliia Antoniuk (3) (1) Tourism Department, Faculty of Geography, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Doroshenko 41, 79000 Lviv, Ukraine, e-mail: malskym@ukr.net (2) Tourism Department, Faculty of Geography, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Doroshenko 41, 79000 Lviv, Ukraine, e-mail: zinkoyuriy@gmail.com (corresponding author) (3) Department of Geography and International Tourism, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Sichovih Strilciv 19, 79000 Lviv, Ukraine, e-mail: nantonyk@yahoo.com citation Malska M., Zinko Y., Antoniuk N., 2016, Ecotourism and geotourism in Ukraine, Journal of Geography, Politics and Society, 6(4), 27–33. abstract Cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine has a long tradition of development. Today, ecotourism, active forms of tourism, ethno- graphic trips and trips to historical and cultural destinations are mostly developed. The most popular offers come from national parks and other natural areas with preserved natural, historical and cultural environments. Among the regions with active forms of tourism, the Carpathian mountain region and the Crimea with a well-developed network of hiking and biking trails should be noted. Rafting on the Black Cheremosh, Prut, Southern Bug, Dniester, Desna, Sluch, Teteriv and other rivers is quite popular as well as trips to caves (in Podillia, the Carpathians and the Crimea), which are often combined with visits to other natural attractions. Travel agencies, specialized clubs, national parks and nature reserves, which cooperate to promote their offers on domestic and international tourist market, organize informative trips. key words cognitive nature tourism ecotourism, geotourism, national parks, geoparks, Ukraine. 28 Marta Malska, Yurii Zinko, Nataliia Antoniuk Cognitive tourism is perhaps the oldest on the territory of Ukraine. At first, it developed as regional study trips in order to get to know natural and his- torical-cultural peculiarities of the native land, as well as health and recreational trips for the purpose of health improvement and keeping fit. The stages of development of various forms of cognitive (includ- ing ecological) tourism in Ukraine examined in their works in detail O. Liubitseva (Любіцева, Сташук, 2002), M. Malska (Зінько, Мальська, 2001; Мальсь- ка et al., 2004) V. Kyfiak (Кифяк, 2003), V. Fedorch- enko (Федорченко, Дьорова, 2002); L. Ustymenko (Устименко, Афанасьєв, 2005), P. Masliak (Масляк, 2008) and many others. Now the travel industry of Ukraine is not in its best condition – domestic and foreign tourist flows decrease annually in all regions of the country. Hence, the issues of revaluation of touristic capabilities and resources, analysis of travel offers and creation of new strategies for promoting travel products are relevant. The aim of the presented study is to review the current state of development of the most popular types of cognitive tourism in Ukraine. To carry out the study we have analyzed the scientific and popu- lar scientific publications, travel offers of companies regarding cognitive nature tourism and own stud- ies of the development of cognitive nature tourism within preparation of the Projects on organization of national parks and nature reserves territories in Western Ukraine, projects on tourism development in some regions of Ukraine. 2. research results Cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine is represented with various forms and types of travel activities. The most studied forms (categories) of cognitive tourism is ecotourism in protected areas, geotourism and cognitive types of active tourism (Fig. 1). A net of 48 national parks of Ukraine with a to- tal area of more than 10,000 km² (1.8% of its terri- tory) located in 14 out of 24 administrative regions serves the interests of ecotourism, weekend- and sport tourism and recreation under natural condi- tions. They include reserves themselves surrounded by old agricultural zones, which nowadays serve the purposes of organized recreation. One of the most popular forms of cognitive na- ture tourism is ecotourism in national parks and other protected areas. A peculiar feature of national parks in Ukraine is related to insufficient area of conserva- tion territories and a large area of man-made land- scapes, which are often the target of recreational use. Legal framework has been established for the development of tourism in national parks, and the plans of parks protection envisage allocation of spe- cial territories for recreation and various forms of tourism. However, the current practice of touristic use of the Ukrainian national parks shows that their potential is still insufficiently used for domestic and international tourism, the range of offers remains limited and forms of balanced tourism are poorly introduced. There is a difference in recreational reclamation of parks. Some of them (Carpathian, Shatskyi, Holy Mountains) strongly experienced rec- reational pressure on the environment for the time of use, while most of the newly created are not ready yet to receive visitors. Therefore, there is a need to develop ways of promotion and regulation of tourist movement, improvement of touristic infrastructure, optimal territorial management and approaching the parks to the requirements for sustainable tour- ism development in these areas. In travel terms, the national parks, including the developed touristic centers, are characterized by the diversity of types of recreation and tourism. The essential role here belongs to health-improving and leisure recreation at the premises of numer- ous sanatoriums and recreation camps (Carpath- ian, Shatskyi, Hutsulshchyna, Skolivski Beskids, Pry- azovskyi, Charming Harbor). However, sufficiently developed here are the qualified tourism (Carpath- ian, Vyzhnytskyi, Cheremoskyi, Buzkyi Gard, Velykyi Luh, Nyzniodnistrovskyi, Dzhaharlytskyi,etc.), cultur- ological (Podilski Tovtry, Carpathian, Hutsulshchyna, Khotyn, Holy Mountains, Mezynskyi, Dermansko- Ostrozkyi), and ecoeducational (all national parks). Touristic infrastructure in the majority of national parks is well-developed and there are two forms of tourist services: directly by special park structures and by parties of recreation and travel activities. Parks administration keeps records of visitors, who pass through the checkpoints and collect entrance fees to the park in the form of ticket sale. The num- ber of visitors, who visit and receive health and rec- reational services on the territory of national parks from other parties, exceeds in several times the ac- counted one by the parks administration. Western Ukrainian national parks can be divided into two types based on the figures of infrastructure development degree and intensity of touristic move- ment – intensive and extensive touristic reclamation. Each recreational type of national parks requires the development of specific strategies for sustainable tourism development with specification of actions plans for each of the parks. Due to the existence of two types of national parks, there is a need to de- velop two different technologies of introduction of components of sustainable tourism. Ecotourism and geotourism in Ukraine 29 We should stipulate the following measures in the model of sustainable touristic development of the parks of the first type (with expressive recrea- tional and travel function): implementation of con- servation efforts and increasing the comfort level of recreational and sanitary institutions; moderniza- tion of places of public recreation and touristic infra- structure, dispersion of tourist flows and minimizing pressure on natural and aquatic systems; wider im- plementation of ecological forms of tourism (cogni- tive) and agrotourism; development in cooperation with the local authorities of action plans to intro- duce the components of sustainable development: by improving the appearance of localities, provid- ing access to main attractions, support of traditional crafts, as well as ensuring development of food and lodging facilities. For parks of the second type with extensive de- velopment of tourism, there a possibility to adapt to models of sustainable development used in the national parks of European countries. These mod- els should be directed on the one hand – at the in- crease of the flow of tourists to these parks, and on the other – at the development of infrastructure for environmentally oriented forms of tourism. Among the priority measures we should ensure the creation of visit centers and ecoeducational centers, the de- velopment and arrangement of routes, preparation and provision of trails for qualified tourism, creation of thematic and ecoeducational paths, preparation of travel products focused on exploration of local natural and cultural values, and development of a food and lodging network in the protected zone of the park. national parks of ukraine:1 – Synevyr, 2 – Uzhanskyi, 3 – Zacharovanyi Krai, 4 – Skolivski Beskids, 5 – Yavorivskyi, 6 – Pivnichne Podillia, 7 – Carpathian, 8 – Hutsulshchyna, 9 – Verkhovynskyi, 10 – Halytskyi, 11 – Vyznytskyi, 12 – Cheremoskyi, 13 – Khotyn- skyi, 14 – Dniester’s Canyon, 15 – Podilski Tovtry, 16 – Kremenetski Mountains, 17 – Verkhnie Pobuzhzhia, 18 – Dermansko-Os- trozkyi, 19 – Shatskyi, 20 – Prypiat-Stokhid, 21 – Zalissia, 22 – Ichnianskyi, 23 – Mezynskyi, 24 – Holosiivskyi, 25 – Bilozerskyi, 26 – Nyzhniosul’skyi, 27 – Pyriatynskyi, 28 – Hetmanskyi, 29 – Desniansko-Starohutskyi 30 – Homilshanski Forests, 31 – Dvorichan- skyi, 32 – Slobozhanskyi, 33 – Holy Mountains, 34 – VelykyiLuh, 35 – Pryazovskyi, 36 – Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslava, 37 – Buzkyi Gard, 38 – Azovo-Syvashskyi, 39 – Dzhaharlyckyi, 40 – Nyzniodnistrovskyi, 41 – Tuzlovski Estuaries, 42 – Charming Harbor. Forms of tourism: TC – trekking & climbing; H – hiking; Ct – cycle touring; С – canoeing trips; R – rafting trips; S – sailing trips; Hr – horse riding trips; St – ski-touring; D – diving; Bt – birding trips & birdwatching; At – animal trips; Bw– botany & wildflower tours; G – geotourism. Fig. 1. Geography of different forms of cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine Source: own research. 30 Marta Malska, Yurii Zinko, Nataliia Antoniuk There are prerequisites in the national parks of Western Ukraine for the development of a wide range of forms of ecotourism (Зінько, Гетьман, 2002; Szczecinski et al., 2004). The basic form of ecotourism should be cognitive nature one, which should be based on a strong network of didactic and themed trails. Carpathian Mountain parks have the best opportunities for the development of hik- ing, rock climbing, caving tourism. Water touring has a chance for further development in Shatskyi, Vyzh- nytskyi, Carpathian parks and NNP „Podilski Tov- try”. The projects of development of popular cycle touring and horse riding trips are being developed in some parks. Ethnographic tourism can eventu- ally become a landmark of the National Parks „Hut- sulshchyna” and „Skolivski Beskids”. Introduction of regional tourism management and marketing is ap- propriate for effective development of ecotourism in recreational areas of natural reserve fund, which is impossible without participation of local people, their knowledge of history, culture and natural iden- tity of the land. The largest national park has been founded in the Carpathians to improve touristic infrastructure and to regulate tourist flows in the mountainous ecosystems, which are sensitive to anthropogenic influence. Due to old agricultural cultivation of territories in Ukraine, wildlife preserves are the most popular type of protected territories. They differ from reserves by a more compact area and protect local ecosystems and habitats of the endangered species of a biota. A net of such objects has 2632 preserves with a to- tal area of more than 1 mln. hа, that comprises 37% from a total area of protected territories of Ukraine. A majority of them are open for organized daily tours (Hetman, Zinko, 2002) (tab. 1). Nature sights of Ukraine, which consist of 3025 objects, are still more local. The rest of the nature protected territo- ries (23.5%) include regional landscape parks (44), Tab. 1. Rating of 20 national parks most popular among tourists Name Square [hа] Characteristic features Prevailing forms of tourism Carpathian 50303 mountains, resorts, ethnographic village winter and summer active recreation, ethnic tourism Hutsulshchyna 32271 mountains, resorts, Hutsuls village ethnic tourism, winter and summer active recreation Skolivski Beskids 35684 mountains, winter resorts, Boiko village winter and summer active recreation, ethnic tourism Synevyr 40400 mountains & lake winter and summer active recreation Vyzhnytskyi 7928 mountains, Hutsul ethnographic village ethnic tourism, summer winter and active recreation Shatskyi 32515 lakes, forests summer water recreation, nature and rural tourism Holosiivskyi 4525 forests sub-urban recreation Yavorivskyi 7079 hills, rocks, forests, countryside summer water and active recreation, ethnic tourism Holy Tops 40609 hills, rocks, floodplain forests pilgrimage tourism, summer active recreation Podilski Tovtry 261316 hills, rocks, forests, river valleys and canyons, karst caves, countryside summer active recreation, nature and rural tourism, visiting caves, castle and architectural tourism Pryazovskyi 78127 sand-stone rocks, steppe nature and archaeological tourism, seaside recreation Dzharylhatskyi 10000 sea island, steppe summer seaside recreation Azov-Syvaskyi 52154 seaside wetlands, nesting birds nature tourism, summer water recreation Homilshanski forests 14315 river valleys, forests nature tourism, winter and summer active recreation Uzhanskyi 39159 mountains winter and summer active recreation, ethnic tourism Halytskyi 14685 forests, river valleys nature tourism Kremenetski Hills 6951 hills, rocks, forests, castles, church nature tourism, castle and church tourism Hetmanskyi 23360 floodplain forests, palace, country- side nature, historical and rural tourism Prypiat-Stokhid 39315 floodplains and floodplain forests, moorland nature tourism Desniansko- Starohutskyi 16215 floodplains and floodplain forests, moorland nature tourism Source: Hetman, Zinko, 2002. Ecotourism and geotourism in Ukraine 31 protected tracts (774), botanical gardens (22), zoos (13), parks-sights of landscape architecture (538) and dendrologic parks (39). Tourism in Ukraine has traditionally flourished in national parks. The high quality of natural conditions in these areas is reflected in the intensive recreation- al utilization. As much as 9% of the capacity in collec- tive accommodation facilities is located in large-size protected areas. From the point of view of realized attractiveness, the scale is dominated by mountain areas. This is mainly due to the relief that is suitable for tourism development and winter recreation: the most popular in the country zones of winter and summer tourism are located in recreational areas of the Carpathian, Vyzhnytskyi, Skolivski Beskids, Synevyr, Hutsulshchyna and other national parks. Every year each of these Carpathian parks accepts from 30 to 90 thousand tourists from all regions of Ukraine and from abroad. National parks of the plain part of Ukraine attract, with small exceptions, a much smaller number of tourists. As a rule, they satisfy the recreational needs of local population, mostly of the residents of large neighboring cities and urbanized districts with a complicated ecological situation. It should be noted, however, that touristic attractive- ness is not determined by only one factor or unique- ness of a natural feature; rather, it is a complex of components including the shape of a landscape and nature of settlements. The existence of international biosphere reserves „Eastern Carpathians” and „Roztochia” contributes to the development of various forms of nature cog- nitive tourism (Зінько, Мальська, 2001). Projects on popularization of nature cognitive tourism and creation of respective infrastructure for servicing of tourist flows are realized on their territories by joint efforts of international organizations, environmental institutions, local governments and communities. 3. Geotourism Geotourism is a relatively young kind of tourism in Ukraine. Although pedestrian, water, bicycle and car trips to picturesque and unique geological objects and places have been popular for a long time in all regions of the country, it is only now that informa- tional and educational aspects of such trips have started to attract attention. The Carpathians, the Crimean Peninsula and Po- dillia Upland are the most popular geotouristic re- gions of Ukraine. The objects most visited by tourists are concentrated there. It is possible to outline the most popular geotour- istic objects and routes in the Ukrainian Carpathians. There are several tourist paths in their highest part – the Chornohora: “2000 m Mountains of the Car- pathians”, “Mountainous Lakes – Brebeneskul, Nesa- movyte, and Maricheika”, and a number of mountain routes in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and Na- tional Park “Carpathian”. The region of the Volcanic Carpathians (Zakarpattia region) is interesting and not difficult for visitors. Geotouristic objects include there the domes of extinct volcanoes and other traces of volcanic activity: mountains Antalovetska Poliana and Palanok, and the Enchanted Valley rock complex (Fir-Tree Stone). Skole and Upper Dniester Beskids are rich in geological heritage. The most popular and visited geotouristic objects there are the Dovbush Rocks (a rock complex near the vil- lage of Bubnyshche made of Yamna sandstones up to 80 m of height, 200 m of width and up to 1 km of length) and Urych rocks (erosion relics of massive Yamna Paleocene sandstones up to 50 m of height) with valuable geological, geomorphological, histori- cal and cultural heritage. The Crimea Peninsula can be called an alfresco geological museum. The southern part of the pen- insula is occupied by the Crimean Mountains, which stretch along the Black Sea coast for 180 km from the southeast to northeast with the width of 60 km. There are more than 1000 sinks, 135 caves, mines and pits on the Chatyr-Dag massive. The majority of them are inaccessible for regular visitors, and only two caves – Marble on the Chatyr-Dag and Kyzyl-Ko- ba (Red) on Dolgorukivska yaila are visited by tour- ists. The Ghost Valley on the south-eastern slope of Demerdzhi mountain – a complex of chimera rocks (more than 100) formed as a result of the weather- ing of upper Jurassic conglomerates (weathering niches, cornices, subsided and bastion forms) are among the most popular geotouristic objects of the Crimean peninsula. The Kara-Dag Natural Reserve, mountains-laccolites Ayu-Dag and Kastel, the Great Canyon of the Crimea and the valley of the Bodrak River often become the objects of geotouristic tours. On the Kerch peninsula, to the north of the vil- lage of Bondarenkove, there is the well-known Bul- ganatske field of mud volcanoes. The Podillia Upland is popular due to its variety of well-studied objects of geoheritage, which are concentrated on relatively small territories and are accessible for tourists. The most popular are the Podillia Tovtry, a canyon of the Smotrych River, gi- gantic Karst labyrinths in gypsum and the canyon of the Dniester River. Tovtry is an arch-like ridge, 50-60 m of height, the relics of coast reefs, formed by parallel coastlines of old Miocene seas. The Karst gypsum caves of the Podillia Dniester area are popu- lar among tourists. There are more than 100 caves 32 Marta Malska, Yurii Zinko, Nataliia Antoniuk there, and the majority of them are protected: the Optymistychna cave (214 km, the longest gypsum cave in the world), Ozerna (116 km), Kryshtaleva (22.6 km), Verteba (8 km), Mlynky (36 km), Atlantis (1.8 km), Yuvileyna (1.7 km), Dzhurynska (1.2 km) have been announced to be of national geological value. In the canyon-like valleys of the Dniester and its left tributaries of the Strypa, Dzhuryn, Seret and Zbruch, a strong complex of sedimentary sequences is being exposed off the youngest ones – anthropo- genic, and the oldest ones – Silurian sediments of the Palaeozoic Era. In the lower part of the Dniester can- yon, Silurian and Devon sediments are exposed, and above them – Cretaceous and neogenic sediments. The Silurian and Devon sediments in Trubchyn, Zal- ishchyky, Ivan-Zolotyi, Ustechko and Vistra deserve special attention. They have a great scientific value, and some of them are of global significance. The canyon of the Smotrych river (80 ha) and outcrops of Wend and Silurian in the neighborhood of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi (Khmelytskyi region) are the other popular geotouristic places. On the Dnieper Upland, the Kaniv Hills, Butskyi and Tiasmynskyi canyons in Cherkasy region seem to be promising geotouristic objects. The Kaniv Hills (the most known of them are Chernecha, Kniazha – 221.2 m, Maryany Hills – 224.4 m) were formed in the district of “Kaniv dislocations”, known for the disloca- tion of the sediments of its sedimentary cover, which are folded and form scaly and sleeve structures. The places of the oldest rock outcrops – sedi- ments of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield – will be interesting for geotourists. Such a phenomenon can be observed in the valleys of the rivers Sluch, South- ern Bug and in the exposed parts of open pits. The Southern Bug River is the only in Ukraine where rap- ids have been preserved in their natural form that add a mountainous character to the river. The South- ern Bug cuts the crystalline rocks of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, which outcrop here to the surface. Overall, the territory of Ukraine is extremely promising for the development of geotourism. Now- adays, the interest in geotouristic attractions is grow- ing due to the improvement of information supply and the development of touristic infrastructure. The Geological Service of Ukraine, scientific institutions specializing in earth sciences, Ukrainian Branch of ProGEO, administrations of nature-protected territo- ries with rich geoheritage, as well as some tour op- erators actively popularize geotouristic trips and ob- jects. In general, geotourism in Ukraine is in infancy: the appropriate infrastructure is insufficient, some interesting objects are located in inaccessible places, and there is a lack of informational and education- al materials, as well as experts in geotourism. Now specialists develop the mechanisms of management of promising geotouristic objects and of establish- ing new for Ukraine forms of geoheritage protec- tion and use – geoparks. In the west of Ukraine, two geoparks can be opened in the mountainous part of the Ukrainian Carpathians – “Rocky Beskids” and “Volcanic Carpathians”, one geopark in the Precar- pathians – “The Galician Dniester region”, and three geoparks in Western Podillia – “Fossil Barrier Reef ”, “Podillia Gypsum Karst” and “The Dniester Canyon” (Шевчук, 2012). Cognitive forms of active tourism in Ukraine have very wide geography. A network of hiking, water, bicycle and car travel routes, which are divided by subjects, covers all regions of Ukraine. The feature of these routes is that most of them, including natural attractions, unite many of the valuable historical and cultural (archeological, historical, ethnographic and other) attractions. Natural routes cover all the most significant natural areas of Ukraine – tourist trails and ecoeducational paths in the national natural and regional landscape parks, to some of the great- est natural landmarks – „Caves of Podillia”, „Caves of Crimea”, „By Carpathian mountain trails”, „Crimean Mountains”, „South coast of Crimea”, to the rocks and rock-and-cave complexes, waterfalls, mountain and lowland lakes, etc. Carpathians and Crimea are the main areas of hiking trips. This variety of natural obstacles makes it possible for tourists to master almost all arsenal of hiking techniques, trail orienteering, productive- ly carry out training activities. The period of hiking trips in these areas is also extensive – from early spring to late autumn, and under favorable weather conditions – in winter. The most interesting routes in the Carpathians pass through the ranges of Chorno- hora, Gorgan and Svydovets. The oldest tourist route „By Carpathian trails” runs from Zakarpattia through Torunskyi Pass, Vyshkivskyi Gorgan, the entire south- ern border of Dolynskyi district, and from Yaiko-Ilem- skyi Gorgan turns to Osmoloda in Rozhniativ district (Lyubitsewa et al., 2012). Rafting on the rivers of Black Cheremosh, Prut, Southern Bug, Dniester, Desna, Sluch, Teterivetc. is popular in the warm season. Stationary tent raft- ing camps operate in the Carpathians (Black Cher- emosh) and Myhiia (Southern Bug). Organizers of water tourism offer long-lasting rafts and rafts of the weekend, exercise instructions and groups accom- panying, and provide all necessary equipment. Most often, the Ukrainians organize trips with cognitive purpose on their own. However, there are a number of specialized travel companies and organizations, public associations (clubs) that pro- vide services on organization of the various forms of Ecotourism and geotourism in Ukraine 33 cognitive nature tourism – hiking, mountain, bicycle, water, speleological, horse riding, etc. The leading travel companies in this area have recently united into the Ukrainian Adventure and Ecological Tour- ism Association (Українська Асоціація…, 2014) to promote their products in the domestic and interna- tional travel markets. It is worth pointing out that the tourism infra- structure for different forms of cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine is underdeveloped and in some cases obsolete. In the attraction natural touristic re- gions it is most developed in resort areas and near major touristic centers, or in economic zones of pro- tected areas. Even more popular becomes the use for placing the base of rural tourism and agrotour- ism (agrohouses, farms). The largest network of such institutions is developed in the Carpathian region (Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Chernivtsi regions). The basic set of services in the Carpathian agrohouses includes accommodation, homemade food, water treatments, equipment hire, sightseeing tours. 4. conclusions Among the forms of cognitive nature tourism in Ukraine the most developed became eco-tourism, active types of tourism (hiking, water, cycling, climb- ing, spelunking, etc.), ethnographic trips by the terri- tories with preserved natural and historical-cultural environment. The most popular are ecological travel offers of the national parks and other protected ar- eas, and the densest network of hiking and cycling tourist routes is laid in the Carpathian region and the mountainous part of Crimea. Often the nature cog- nitive trips are combined with historical and cultural elements that only enhances cognitive effect. 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